Justin Townes Earle was scheduled to perform at Al’s Bar on March 24, Michelle Shocked was due to play at The Bedford on April 15 and Mavis Staples and the Blind Boys of Alabama were scheduled for the Town Hall on April 30. All of these shows have been cancelled.

A week later, as the enormity of the devastating earthquake in Christchurch has well and truly sunk in, Steve Marshall and his bandmates in Left Or Right are in sombre mood as they reflect on that city’s loss. “That was absolutely crazy, eh?” Marshall says. “Who would have thought just as you rang that had happened up there? “I’d forgotten that Logan (Hampton, brother of Left Or Right guitarist Callum Hampton) and (flatmate) Crispy were both up there during it. “They were just about to load out their lighting rig from Al’s Bar after doing lights for the Melvins show the night before. They never got their gear out but managed to get back to Dunedin that night. They were very spooked and in shock.”

Staff from the Centre of Contemporary Art are optimistic about the extent of damage to their collection. Established in 1883 to promote the arts in Christchurch, CoCA has a collection of about 200 works, mostly paintings, dating from the early 20th century to the present. The centre’s 1968 building is intact, but about 25 per cent of works in both the permanent gallery collection and the dealer gallery have fallen off the walls, says business manager Tony Dann.

Richard Sinke, the director of Dux de Lux – a restaurant, bar and brewery on the corner of Christchurch’s Hereford St and Montreal St – said engineers were moving through the premises last night. ”Fortunately, the Arts Centre [where Dux de Lux is located] seems to have got through okay,” said Sinke, who has been involved with the business for 32 years.

Dux de Lux owner Richard Sinke said he wanted to reopen his bar “as soon as possible”.The damaged building could reopen before repairs were completed on the rest of the Arts Centre site, he said.”The Dux is the centre of hospitality in Christchurch and is the kind of place people will need when the city starts to reopen,” he said.

Dux de Lux owner Richard Sinke said he had not been told his tenancy would be terminated.”As a tenant of 33 years, I thought I might be informed before the media. I haven’t heard anything,” he said.

El Santo Porteno – 6 Norwich Quay, Lyttelton No published stories. Talked to Oscar who said the building is red stickered but is up in the air whether it will be demolished. He said only the roof and parapets are damaged.

“It is with much sadness that I wish to announce that Goodbye Blue Monday is over. It is strange that something that I put my heart-and-soul into over two years has suddenly ceased to be. I think the building is still there – standing sadly with rain getting in and ruining those toilet walls I fought to keep clean and graffiti free – but the business is buggered… We created something that didn’t exist before we made it and now its over. We have started talking about Goodbye Blue Monday in the past tense.”

Former Christchurch mayor and business owner Gary Moore said his family bar, Goodbye Blue Monday, in Poplar Lane, had been “destroyed” in the earthquake. “The building is all red-stickered and we cannot get in there at all.” Moore and son Johnny said they remained committed to the “revival” of Christchurch. “We believe that the city will rise phoenix-like from the ashes.”

High Street Project - First Floor, 84 Lichfield Street Video footage of Lichfield Street seems to show the building intact, but with badly damaged roofing. This is a very old building and I’d imagine it will probably be red… The New Media Club – 195 Armagh St

Stephen Cohen spent four years restoring the historic Provincial Hotel, but it took only seconds to reduce it to rubble. Yesterday, two diggers pushed over the 108-year-old building that suffered terminal damage in last month’s earthquake, collapsing the walls like a pack of cards. Cohen bought the neglected building four years ago, spending a small fortune restoring and strengthening it, with the aim of reopening as a boutique hotel and bistro. “We were trying to save it,” he said.

Wunderbar – London Street, Lyttelton No published stories, reportedly fine